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“One analysis by Fred Campbell, director of the conservative think tank Tech Knowledge, concluded that withholding Time Warner content from, say, Comcast and other cable companies would cost AT&T $8 billion a year in lost rights fees. To make up that shortfall, AT&T would need to expand its own subscriber base by 13 million viewers, according to the study.”

“‘If this one [transaction] isn’t good, what vertical integration transaction is going to be good? Virtually none,’ said Fred Campbell, director of Tech Knowledge, a free-market think tank and a former head of the FCC’s wireless bureau about a decade ago. ‘Isn’t it a de facto regulation then that we’re just going to prohibit vertical integration?'”

“The language would prevent Silicon Valley powerhouses from lobbying state officials ‘and trying to get them to do net neutrality at the state level,’ Fred Campbell, director of policy group Tech Knowledge and a former senior FCC official, told Bloomberg Law.”

“‘In the absence of a market failure, the constitution doesn’t permit the FCC to treat the information superhighway or any other institution of the press like a public utility,’ Fred Campbell, director of the think tank Tech Knowledge, said in a statement.”

“‘In the absence of a market failure, the constitution doesn’t permit the FCC to treat the information superhighway like a public utility,’ said Fred Campbell, director of the think tank Tech Knowledge.”

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“‘In the absence of a market failure, the constitution doesn’t permit the FCC to treat the information superhighway … like a public utility,’ said Fred Campbell, director of the think tank Tech Knowledge.”

“‘Most antitrust challenges involve mergers between companies that serve the same customers (‘horizontal’ mergers), like Walgreens’ attempt to acquire Rite Aid, because horizontal mergers eliminate a competitive choice from the marketplace,’ Fred Campbell pointed out at Tech Knowledge. The AT&T-Time Warner deal is a ‘vertical’ merger of companies who don’t serve the same set of customers — Time Warner creates programming to sell to distributors and AT&T distributes programming to consumers.”

“‘To successfully challenge this vertical merger, DOJ would need to show that the combined company would have sufficient market power to foreclose rival video distributors from accessing Time Warner content or rival programmers from accessing AT&T’s distribution network,’ Campbell stressed. ‘Precedent, economic theory, and empirical evidence make it unlikely that the DOJ could prove the combined company would have sufficient market power to engage in either foreclosure strategy.'”

“Most recently, in 2004, Democrats flexed their political muscle to prevent a documentary that was critical of presidential candidate John Kerry from airing on Sinclair Broadcast Group, FredCampbell, a Forbes contributor, reported.”

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“Many of the same Democrats ‘mastered the art of threatening FCC investigations’ in response to broadcaster coverage they deem to be a partisan attack, Tech Knowledge Director FredCampbell wrote in a Forbes piece Tuesday pointing to political outcry that Sinclair faced over its 2004 plans to air a documentary critical of presidential candidate John Kerry (see 0410130161). If Democrats believe the FCC can investigate broadcast licenses based on broadcasters’ editorial decisions, then ‘they have no grounds to ask the current FCC chairman to repudiate Congress’ intent,’ he said.”

“‘There might be a benefit at the margin to holding field hearings because there are always things you can learn,’ Campbell, now the director of Tech Knowledge, told the Washington Examiner. ‘But the damage is pretty extreme and pretty obvious.'”

“‘The Communications Act doesn’t permit the FCC to authorize jammers and the DOJ can’t change that,’ said FredCampbell of Tech Knowledge. ‘The correctional system shouldn’t have to resort to jamming to keep contraband cellphones out of prisons. If the correctional system can’t keep contraband cellphones out, how do they stop prisoners from obtaining contraband guns?'”

“FredCampbell, a former Republican FCC aide and the current director of the free-market think tank Tech Knowledge, said the primary argument for keeping the net neutrality rules is because internet service providers such as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. have an economic incentive to act as gatekeepers on the web. But according to Campbell, it is not just network operators that can serve as gatekeepers; rather, new media giants like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc., he said, have this same power.”

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“‘The mood in Washington, at least on the right side of the aisle, is more critical of companies like Google and Amazon,’ said Fred Campbell, a former Republican FCC aide and director of Tech Knowledge, which promotes market-based policies.” (Also published in the Chicago Daily Herald)

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“‘The mood in Washington, at least on the right side of the aisle, is more critical of companies like Google and Amazon,’ said Fred Campbell, a former Republican FCC aide and director of Tech Knowledge, which promotes market-based policies.”

“The FCC isn’t equipped to investigate the legitimacy of each of the millions of net neutrality comments, and trying to do so would waste taxpayer resources, Tech Knowledge Director FredCampbell wrote in a Forbes opinion piece Friday. Agencies don’t have to respond to all comments or analyze each issue raised because doing so would invite widespread special interest abuse of the public comment process, he said.”